As President Barack Obama eloquently put it,
“It ought to concern every person, because it’s a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at the social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name—modern slavery.”
Enslaved gold miners in Ghana, bound by illegal, fictitious debt.
Photography: Lisa Kristine
The Emancipation Proclamation, signed a good 150 years ago, may have abolished traditional slavery. Yet today, slavery continues to ravage our world and is worse than ever. Facilitated by the internet, the corruption of governments, and sheer greed, human bodies have become disposable commodities, bought and sold on whims. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry, for while a drug can be sold once, a human can be sold over and over and over and over.
Human trafficking has gotten more media coverage in the past couple months, but no coverage is enough until slavery is abolished for good.
If you think someone may be a victim of human trafficking please call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at (888) 373-7888.
To Stop the Traffick 